Gordon Gano is best known around town as the lead singer of The Violent Femmes, arguably the biggest band ever to come out of Milwaukee. For 20 years, the group has sold out shows worldwide, even though their last hit came a decade ago with "American Music."

Now Gano has stepped out on his own, releasing a solo album called "Hitting the Ground." OMC caught up with the man whose voice has become a soundtrack to thousands of teenagers' angst since 1981, when he could be heard playing outside the East Side's Oriental Theatre.

In this exclusive Milwaukee Talks, Gano updates us on his solo work, the status of the Femmes and what it's like to visit Milwaukee after all these years.

OMC: Your new album is a collection of songs that you wrote, but you only sing on three of the tracks. It's also connected to a movie of the same name. Please explain.

GG: There's a movie called "Hitting the Ground," and the songs were written all around and connected with that project. A lot of the songs are in the film; a couple are not. The movie, as I understand, didn't get a theatrical release, but showed at festivals. It's a collection of songs, but I wrote the songs with the idea that they would stand on their own.

OMC: There's a diverse group of artists on the album, like PJ Harvey, Frank Black, Lou Reed and They Might Be Giants. The song, "Merry Christmas Brother" was performed by your sister. What was it like having her play your music?

GG: Well, I didn't write it for her to sing. I've never even written songs for me to sing, I've just written songs. We figured out later who to have sing. My sister, Cynthia, is great, in a Patsy Cline style. But the first person that I asked to sing the song was a person I had a good relationship with -- Joan Baez. I'm not even sure why, but "thank you, but no thank you" was her response. So then I thought about my sister. And she said, next time you see Joan, thank her for me.

OMC: The first time I heard these songs, I could have sworn I was listening to a new Violent Femmes album. In fact, most of these musicians have always sounded to me like musical relatives to the Femmes. Did you hand-pick these artists?

GG: Oh sure. It's a co-production of myself and Warren Bruleigh, who either engineered or co-produced about half of the Violent Femmes records throughout the years. Some of the people I knew, which was great, and I could just give them a call. Other people, I tracked down through different management companies.

There were some people who were asked -- I won't be giving up names -- that said no. But the people that did it seemed so right. I really am glad that the other people said no thank you. How could anyone else have been considered? At least that's how I feel now.

I do agree, there is a thread there. Some of the people like Lou Reed, John Cale, have inspired me and I continue to be inspired by them. With my music, it would make sense that there would be some kind of a thread there. But then you have someone like Frank Black, who right at the start was a big Violent Femmes fan, and he did his own thing from there. There definitely is some sensibility there that is very complimentary.

OMC: Can we talk for a second about the Femmes? I can honestly say that after more than a dozen concerts, the show at this year's Summerfest was the best Femmes show I've ever seen.

GG: Ah! That's nice to hear! A big thing, which I'm sure you're aware of, is getting back and playing with Victor (DeLorenzo) after over 10 years ... the energy he's bringing. His playing and singing, in my view, is better than it ever was. I guess Brian (Ritchie) and I were kind of tired; I mean, we can still do it, but Victor is really hot. He's got a kind of energy on stage that is refreshing. He's playing these songs that he hasn't played for 10 years. But I'm glad you said it. I think that show and other shows we've been doing have been really good.